Thousands of children with disabilities and learning difficulties are being
'cynically targeted' by council cutbacks to the extra help they receive at
school, charities have warned.

It is thought local authorities across the country are acting unilaterally to cut support for children with special educational need, giving the reason that a new, more stringent government policy has been brought in.

However, draft legislation has only been published this week and is not likely to come into force until 2014.

Charities said services for disabled children have come under increasing pressure during the recession and since Ofsted and government sources suggested there were too many children receiving extra help.

Author and columnist India Knight said speech therapy for her daughter Nell, eight, has been cut completely.

Nell, the youngest of three children, was born with a genetic problem that has meant she has a speech problem and needed open heart surgery at just three months old.

Ms Knight, who lives in Primrose Hill, north London, said: "Today I found out my fully-statemented daughter, who has a severe cardiac condition and a severe speech defect, is no longer "entitled" to speech therapy at school. What we're watching (in coverage of the Paralympics) is glorious.

"Reality less so."

She has been contacted by other parents and teachers who are also concerned about the withdrawal of support.

More than 1.6 million schoolchildren in England – almost one-in-five – have some form of special needs requiring particular attention from teachers.

Of those, 226,125 pupils with the most severe problems have written special needs statements – legal documents setting out their entitlement to certain teaching and support.

Critics have repeatedly attacked the “statementing” process as being hugely time-consuming and overly bureaucratic. In many cases, children face multiple assessments spanning several years to get access to specialist services.

The Department for Education is now proposing to overhaul the “complex and adversarial” system by introducing one single assessment for each child covering health, education and care needs.

The reforms are not due to be introduced for several years but it is feared that individual local councils are wrongly anticipating the reforms by telling parents that existing statements are no longer valid.

Mark Bush, head of public policy at Scope, a charity representing disabled people, said thousands of families have been affected by cuts imposed by local authorities since the recession began.

He said: "Parents have a massive battle to try to get any services for their child but what is happening because of the cuts is that they are being challenged on the extent to which they need services and are they increasingly having to to fight and take legal action.

"They are cynically targeting the most vulnerable in society. Disabled children and their families are going to fall through the gaps."

He said the organisations that would have helped parents with statements and support them in taking legal action are also being cut, leaving families 'adrift'.

Parents are having to quit work so they can go into their child's school in order to help them eat and take their medication because of the cutbacks, he said, leaving the family more dependent on the state.

In other situations children are at home without any education for up to nine months while councils dispute the level of support the child needs at school, Mr Bush said.

Srabani Sen, chief executive at the charity, at Contact a Family said: "Our special educational need national advice service regularly speaks to stressed parents worried about the unexpected withdrawal of health provisions from their child's statement.

"The golden rule is that provision should always follow the needs of the child, not resources and it's vital this is adhered to. There is a very clear legal requirement for local authorities to look at all the evidence and for it to be discussed at an annual review before any amendment to a child's statement is made.

"We believe part of the problem could be due to the proposed changes in SEN legislation currently being reviewed by the education select committee.

"Confusion on the ground means that some local authorities might be giving parents incorrect information – telling some parents that local authorities don't have to produce statements and that the current system is no longer valid.

"This is simply not true. Parents of disabled children already face a complex web of red tape and bureaucracy to get what their child is entitled to. Local Authorities need to make sure they are giving families with disabled children up to date advice and are carrying out their legal obligations."

A Department for Education spokesman said: “There has been no policy change – responsibility for provision of special educational needs services lies with local authorities. If parents are not happy then they can appeal to a tribunal.

“But we know that too often children and young people with special educational needs do not always get the support they are entitled to. So we are reforming the system to make sure that councils work with health services to give comprehensive support.

“We will be replacing statements and the separate learning difficulty assessments for young people over 16 with Education, Health and Care Plans. These will provide support from birth to the age of 25 where that is needed. We will also be offering young people and parents of children with plans the option of a personal budget so that they can have more control over how their support is delivered.

“The changes are planned to come into effect in 2014. The Education Select Committee is currently considering draft laws and they have invited people to make their views known.”

After being contacted by the Daily Telegraph it is understood Camden Council have reversed their decision and Ms Knight's daughter will continue to receive speech and language therapy.

A Camden Council spokesperson said: "Camden works with parents to fulfil its duty to provide for children with a statement of SEN. We have every intention of continuing to provide speech and language therapy for India Knight's daughter as this is included in her statement of special educational needs and the Council is legally bound to provide this.

"In Camden we work in partnership with health services and are committed to providing specialist speech, language and communication services to children who need it.

"A report was sent to India Knight last month which indicated her daughter's case was going to be closed to speech and language therapy services, which was unhelpful.

"However, we are confident that our procedures for delivery of provision detailed in a Statement of SEN are such that the speech and language therapy would have been continued regardless.

"We would like to reassure Ms Knight that speech and language therapy provision for her daughter will continue.

"We apologise for any confusion. We have exchanged emails with India Knight today and made arrangements to discuss the matter further."